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​Chilean raisin prices have been increasing since last week and are expected to rise further in the coming weeks, due to the rainfall during harvest and crop damage.Although the reports are indicating minor damages has been incurred.

We did it again! We are proud to announce that all our efforts have been compensated with the achievement of IFS certification. Our dedicated team, have invested time, effort and resources in the certification process because we recognised its importance as a significant quality control system.

In fact, to date we are the only processor and supplier of dried fruits in Iran to receive this certification.

KABUL: Director of the Raisin, Fruits and Vegetables Export Development Administration, Muhammad Azim Hashemi, said during a meeting that despite a growing demand for and increased production of Afghan raisin products, close to 20 processing plants are expected to shut in the coming year.“With the help that we have received from the World Bank for better packaging and processing of raisins we were able to increase exports this year, resulting in more markets for raisins from Afghanistan,” he said.At the moment, four different types of raisins are exported from Afghanistan to other Asian countries, Europe and the Americas. And just this year, 22,000 tons of red raisins have been exported abroad. Experts say increased grape crop yields, new methods of processing, standardization of packaging have all contributed to the rise in raisin exports.Officials from the Raisin, Fruits and Vegetables Export Development Administration have reported a 13 percent hike in raisin exports from Afghanistan. However, they have also warned that much of the country’s production capacity is about to go offline in part because of the lack of support the industry has received from local and national government.Nevertheless, the potential for growth in Afghanistan’s raisin industry is threatened by challenges facing factories around the country. At the moment, out of 30 raisin processing factories nationwide, just 13 are operational. Experts say the lack of reliable electricity and financial support from the government are the primary factors behind the stunted growth of the raisin industry.Most women work in raisin processing factories. Zalmai, a raisin factory owner, told TOLONews that if the government provided more support for the industry, the would be able to provide many more employment opportunities, especially for women. “If our work improves and we are supported, we can hire a lot more workers,” he said.Meanwhile, economic analysts have said that, considering the growing demand for raisins from Afghanistan, the government should seize the opportunity and support the industry’s growth. They have asserted that such a strategy could help bolster government revenues and provide much needed employment opportunities.Source: Customs Today <http://customstoday.com.pk/afghan-raisins-export-facing-processing-units-closure-2/>

The Australian dried fruit industry says it's facing tougher competition than ever for quality from its overseas competitors.The local industry has struggled with successive wet seasons, resulting in more damaged fruit like sultanas being delivered to processors.Chair of Dried Fruits Australia, Mark King, said that in a good year local fruit used to be superior to imports, but the rest of the world is catching up."Australia grows good quality fruit, the world never used to. You go to Turkey and they grow it on small areas and the quality of the fruit is not that great," he said."But now they have processing plants over there that turn average fruit into fruit equal to ours."Mr King said the fruit had to be of a good quality or it risked losing markets."We can't expect the processors to be paying us for rubbish."Grower Ivan Shaw, from Merbein South in north-west Victoria, recently helped to produce a best practice guide for the industry.He said growers were facing wetter seasons and they needed to start using new rain-tolerant varieties and techniques available to improve grape quality, or risk having fruit knocked back."There's good markets for good quality fruit and virtually no market for poor quality fruit," he said."So in order to be a good viable, flourishing industry you need to be consistently supplying good quality fruit."

California’s 2014 raisin grape crop was expected to be off the vines and lying on drying trays before Sept. 20. That’s the deadline for growers to have them on the ground to qualify for insurance should rain damage the grapes before they are picked up and put into bins.Just about all of the U.S. raisin supply is produced in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties.

The RAC’s final shipment report for the 2013/14 crop year (August-July), reveals that US exports of all varieties of raisins reached 152,502 packed tonnes compared with 116,955 tonnes a year ago.Sales to the US domestic market and Canada gained by 8% #USraisins #raisins #raisisNewCrop2014

Argentina: Raisin sector expects to recover in 2015

According to a recent report by the USDA, the production and exports of Argentinean raisins are expected to rebound in 2015. Production for that year is estimated at 33,000 tons, 29,500 of which will be exported and the rest will be sent to the domestic market.

Currently, the province of San Juan, in western Argentina, produces 95% of the country's raisins while the rest is mainly produced in the provinces of Mendoza and La Rioja.

MANİSA — Grape producer Ülgen brothers from Manisa's Sarıgöl district recently established Turkey's first grape drying facility which uses solar energy and biomass system. Ali İhsan Ülgen said that grapes are generally dried in September and October in Sarıgöl. "Due to autumn rains, grapes are left to dry outside until December, leading to a decrease in quality. We wanted to establish a special facility to dry Sultaniye grapes, which is currently in the testing phrase. Five-tons of grapes will be dried only in 50 hours with solar energy," he continued.

Iranian exporters fear sanctions

About eight years ago, Arat Company's president Mr. Siamak Shahriari had an interview with BBC team who were visiting Arat Company's Raisins production plant in Karaj. During the interview the fear of sanctions which has not been in full power and so powerful by then, was stressed out and today we see that those fears and threats are now causing vast damages to the industry and all the exporters have been impacted severely as results of the US / UN sanction on Iran.reviewing the article refreshes the industry condition by then back in 2006.---------------------------------------------------------------------------By Frances Harrison BBC News in TehranPage last updated at 20:34 GMT, Thursday, 9 February 2006

Iranian ladies in white coats and plastic shower caps sift through sultanas in a factory outside Tehran.Sanctions could spark job lossesThe fruits have to be triple hand checked for impurities to meet the exacting hygiene standards abroad, but that makes the product too expensive for the local market.If sanctions were applied over Iran's nuclear programme it is possible Iran's non oil exports will be affected.Iran's exporters have been there before.The current situation, where batches of sultanas are often headed for the United States, would have been unthinkable a decade ago when Iranian dried fruit exports were blocked by US sanctions.Arat and Co. is the biggest exporter of Iranian sultanas and dates to North America.It is a family business that processes millions of dollars worth of dried fruit a year.If sanctions were slapped on again it would be a disaster for Arat's owner Siamak Shahriari."The worst thing is losing the opportunity we had," he says."We created jobs, we created a market, but with sanctions we could lose everything we earned up to now."

BY ROBERT RODRIGUEZThe Fresno BeeAugust 15, 2014 Two years ago, growers of the versatile Thompson seedless grape were being wooed by the raisin and wine industries as competition for their fruit pushed prices to record highs.But factors have changed this year and wine grape buyers expect prices to tumble. How far remains to be seen. Some say the $325 a ton many central San Joaquin Valley farmers received in 2012 from wineries is not likely to be repeated."There is little activity to almost no activity from wineries that are traditionally buying grapes this time of year," said Nat DiBuduo, president of the Fresno-based Allied Grape Growers. "They are just not out there."DiBuduo and others say a rise in imported bulk wine, competition from other beverages and healthy inventories of wine have weakened demand for Valley raisin grapes.In good years, the raisin grape varieties grown in the Valley are used to make juice concentrate, brandy or kosher wine.But back-to-back bumper crops have filled the tanks at the wineries."We are at the point where we are facing capacity issues," DiBuduo said. "It's like: There is no room at the inn."Also working against California grape growers are bulk wine imports from Australia, Argentina and Spain.Winemakers also are facing tougher competition from the growing craft beer, hard cider and distilled spirits industries, said Erica Moyer, partner/broker at Turrentine Brokerage in Novato."There is no question this is going to be a challenging year," Moyer said.Several farmers say that with seemingly little interest from the wineries, making raisins may be a better option."This year, I am seriously considering it," said Paul Lanfranco, a Kerman-area grape grower."It would be nice to compare what the wineries are paying but at some point I am going to have to make a decision."Lanfranco, who has about 400 acres of raisin variety grapes, has talked with one packer who said the price may fall in the range of $1,700 to $1,800 a ton.The actual raisin price still is being negotiated between the industry's packers and the growers representative, the Raisin Bargaining Association.Glen Goto, chief executive officer of the association, is optimistic about this year's crop and price. Last year, California raisin farmers produced a bumper crop and the industry packers still managed to increase sales by 18% over the previous year.This year, poor weather and the drought have contributed to a smaller crop.The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates this year's raisin crop will be 13% smaller."Even though there is still some question about how many acres will go to make raisins or go to the wineries, I am still very optimistic we can move the volume because of what we did last year," Goto said.Goto would like to see at least the same price growers received last year: $1,650.They achieved a record price in 2012 at $1,900."We would like to start at $1,650 and go from there," Goto said.

Current crop of Iranian Sayer Dates which is now a 9 months old crop (2013-2014) was a rather large yield crop is terms of volume based on the statistics of crop production all over the country’s southern regions where the Dates Palms normally grow.

At the beginning of the season the current crop enjoyed high demand due to the shortage of the previous crop year. Farmers started to sell large volumes of their crop to the Brokers, Middle-men, investors and exporters. However due to the huge jump in prices -close to 100%- in comparison to previous year. But on the other side, stability of the exchange rate during the last year the exportation of the dates has not been experiencing the growth as expected. Additionally domestic consumption was decreased due to price jump. On top of that large volume crop that was yielded resulted in very slow sales and respectively large volumes were remained unsold with the buying parties. There are hopes that some remaining volume is sold during the month of Ramadan and finally a rough figure of 4000 to 5000 MT to be carried forward.Exporting Market Status

Sayer Dates: Sales of the Sayer dates to international markets including Europe, Australia and North America has been decreased by almost 15%, also caused by the sanctions on Iran and also the hardship of financial transactions through banks.

Other Varieties: Kabkab, Rabbi, Shawi experienced a better sales and was increased by 15% up to April 2014 and it is expected to increase by at least 10% till the new crop enters the market.New crop outlook

Iranian Dates new crop has been reported to be in proper condition yet smaller in volume in comparison to the current crop, in major Dates growing regions of Iran.The main reason of the shortage is reported to be inability of the trees to inseminate due to heavy rain showers by the time of insemination.

The other reason is due to the fact that trees have lost fruits during the fruiting time more than normal size of fruits fall.Given the above it is expected that the crop size will be larger in term of sizing causing in having more Select size Dates fruits than GAQ and FAQ size. Respectively the crop decrease will have direct effect on the price of the Dates. It is also expected that the carry forward crop will be purchased and consumed domestically due to high prices of new crop.

Frost this winter and inopportune rains caused complications for table grape growers throughout South America. Those complications led to a fall in production in several countries throughout the continent.

“It was a complicated season for Latin American grapes,” said Jacques Joubert of Sudfruit. “Early grapes in Argentina were a total disaster because of late frost.” The brunt of the bad weather came when early varieties were mature, which cut production of those grapes by as much as 50 percent, and rains affected later varieties.

“The problem we had with rain was that we got more rain in January and February than we've had in the last two years put together,” said Jobert. “So along with the damage from frost there was rain damage to grapes.” Quality issues plagued the fruit that was shipped to European markets, resulting in more insurance claims than in previous years. Chile's season was similarly affected.

“Chilean growers were affected by the same frost and rains that affected Argentina's growers,” said Joubert. “They had production losses between 40 and 50 percent, similar to Argentina.” The drop in volume is bad for growers because the higher prices that come with less volume haven't been enough to offset production losses. With export prices only about 15 to 20 percent higher than normal, the rise in prices is not enough to salvage the season. In contrast, Brazilian growers have enjoyed a season free from the troubles that hit other South American countries.

“Brazilian growers didn't have a problem with frost because they're in a tropical zone,” explained Joubert. “So they had normal volumes of fruit.” This is the third year in a row that Argentine growers have faced a bad year on the export market. The experiences from previous seasons caused many growers to abandon the fresh export market to focus on the fresh and raisin market at home. The added influx of players on the domestic market caused prices to drop at home. With quality issues affecting this year's grapes and discounting them from export, growers who tried to sell their grapes at home found low prices there. For those that are shipping fruit to Europe this year, the timing of the season was also late.

“We normally ship our grapes starting the last week of December, but by the third week of January, I still hadn't shipped anything,” said Joubert. “So this year it's going to take longer for Argentinian grapes to clear the market.”

Current crop year -2013 crop- for Iranian raisins including sultanas and Thompson seedless raisins, was relatively a low yield year as the crop was reduced by %10 to %15 lower than an average crop yield. Yet in terms of quality, Iranian raisins experienced harvesting a sound crop with minimum volume of defected goods both in chemical and physical damages.Exports figures out of Iran for the current crop for the past 7 months was approximately 72,000 MT (Inclusive of all types of raisins such as Sultanas, Thompson and golden raisins) and considering the domestic consumption, approximate additional 40,000 MT of exportation is anticipated for the next couple of months prior to new crop’s harvest in September 2014. Given this fact, the carry forward from the old crop will be close to zero.Considering the huge price jump of Turkish sultanas at the beginning of the crop year of 2013 which caused Iranian domestic raw material market to be the target of many Turkish producers’ raw material supply source as many of them started to purchase Iranian crop as a replacement for their highly price raw material. The high demand along with Iranian exporters’ demand in new crop caused another wave of price jump in Iranian raw material market and forced Iranian raisins exporting prices to follow the same up-going trend as Turkish prices.This fact was the main reason that many American and European clients reconsider their regular annual purchase routine from Iran and Turkey and some switched to California Raisins which in dramatic reversal of fortune has become the cheaper resource. Californian Raisins on the other hand, experienced a high production volume helping the US exporters offering relatively cheaper prices in the market leaving Turkish and Iranian Sultanas prices higher than market and out of competition. This trend has finally caused the prices of both countries to reduce and adjust for the past 45 days which is still ongoing.The demand for light color Sultanas from the two emerging market of Russian and Ukraine is getting stronger and the exportation figures to these two markets are going up each year. Additionally, Persian Gulf region countries are biggest consumers of Iranian Golden Raisins and in view of the fact that the market is warming up for the very high demand during the month of Ramadan, it is foreseeable that there will be no carry forward for light colored sultanas and raisins as well.It is predicted that new crop of Iranian sultanas and Raisins will be supplied with relatively more competitive prices than Turkish raisins to main global markets in North America, Australia & New Zealand and Europe for the 2014 crop. This fact can be backed up by the recent drought in California which threatens the new crop of Raisins in California and may cause a serious damage to the harvesting volume in Late August this year.News and updated from Iranian grapes growing regions such as Malayer, Ghouchan, Takestan, Urumiyeh and Azerbaijan gathers that the current crop is expected to be relatively bigger than the current crop. If the weather condition stays normal without any harsh condition such as hailstorm or freezing weather till mid-May, then a crop size of approximately 180,000 MT of raisins can be expected which about 150,000 MT is likely to be exported throughout the year of 2014.

With an eye on the crop reports coming out of Turkey stating a large volume crop, it is not far from imagination to see lower opening prices for the new crop from both neighbor countries which will be much competitive to US and south African raisins prices.

PUNE: Raisin prices are higher by almost 50 per cent over the previous year and are likely to move up further as the season advances. Prices have appreciated due to increase in exports and the prospect of lower production in the current season due to the damage caused by unseasonal rainfall.

Maharashtra, the top producer and exporter of grapes, is also the top producer of raisins. Sangli and Solapur districts in the state lead in raisin production and trading. Raisin or dried grapes arrivals have begun over the last 15 days. Farmers are getting about 50 per cent more prices over the previous year.

"The raisins, which we sold for Rs 100/kg last year, are giving us Rs 150/kg this year," said Rajendra Ghuli, regional president, Sangli, Maharashtra State Grape Growers' Association.

Grape processors from Sangli have set up a cluster to promote raisin exports with an investment of Rs 200 crore. Machines have been imported from Turkey and used for cleaning, washing , drying, treatment with edible oil, sorting and packaging of raisins for exports.

A company set up by farmers runs the raisin cluster and charges a user fee from the traders /exporters. Last year, the state produced 1.25 lakh tonne raisins of which 25 per cent to 30 per cent was exported to the Middle East.

This year, the processors expect the production to fall to 80,000 to 90,000 tonne as unseasonal rainfall has damaged the grape orchards on a large scale in Sangli and Solapur.

"We have assessed losses of Rs 200 crore in Sangli and another Rs 100 crore in Pandharpur region," said Ghuli. Most of the export is currently taking place to the Middle East. The lower quality raisins go for exports while the top quality is sold in the domestic market.

Top quality raisins are sold at Rs 150/ kg to Rs 200/kg by farmers, who do not get this rate for exports. As the season advances, farmers expect the prices to rise further.

"We hope the prices will move up as arrivals pick up," said Prakash Patil, grape grower and raisin manufacturer from Solapur. This year, grape growers have received good prices both in the domestic market as well as for exports.

The prices of table grapes, which had reduced after the unseasonal rainfall, have increased to Rs 40/kg to Rs 50/kg now. Irrespective of the prices of table grapes, raisins give better returns to farmers as the input costs for farmers are less as compared to table grapes.

The food industry has recently implemented a universally recognized food safety auditing system, known as GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative). The purpose of which is to allow industries access to unbiased formal third party audit reports of any inspected facility, eliminating time consuming and costly audits from individual companies. The GFSI has several approved auditing systems, one of which is BRC (British Retail Consortium). Arat Company, has opted to undergo audits based upon the BRC standard. This annual audit is an in-depth examination of every single components of our food safety and quality systems. It is conducted by an independent third-party auditor over a period of several days.

Arat Company is proud to have achieved “A” level BRC certification for producing and exporting dried fruits including Sultanas, Raisins and Dates. This is the best possible level of certification. While we can always continue to improve, this “A” level BRC certification confirms our internal value that at Arat Company, quality is a way of life.

We'd like to thank every single member of our team for making this come true.http://www.brcdirectory.com/Site.aspx?BrcSiteCode=4151494

After grapes and mangoes, India has plans to ship its raisins abroad, especially to the US. The Indian Grape Processing Board (IGPB) has met officials from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and Codex Alimentarius Commission to develop quality standards for raisin production in the country so that the product conforms to consumers' safety norms abroad.

The commission has been established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and World Health Organization in 1963 to develop international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice to protect the health of the consumers. At present, lack of standards in production and poor quality of raisins is a big trade barrier, said officials.

Chairman of the grape-processing board Jagadish Holkar told TOI that not much attention has been paid to marketing of raisins. It included devising quality standards according to global norms. "We want to promote Indian dried grapes or raisins in the international market. There is research in India, but nothing beyond. We want to first draw up the standards for raisin production and quality. The commission will help us," said Holkar.

He met Sanjay Dave, chairman of the commission and advisor to FSSAI, to discuss the idea. Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had recently asked the heads of the grape board to look at raisin prospects.

"The grape processing board will look into productivity, quality and consumer safety of raisins and frame guidelines as per global standards for export," said Holkar. These guidelines have been issued by WHO and India's raisins must also adhere to them. Often, we think about taking our raisins to several countries but are stopped short due to lack of quality standards

He added that though India exports around 30,000 tonnes of raisins each year to 80 different countries (70% of which comes from Maharashtra),

There has been much discussion on the maximum residue limits of pesticides, and agricultural chemicals on raisins exported from India and they often do not conform to the residue standards of the country they are being exported to.

"Standards will also enhance raisin quality for the Indian market. Indian raisins are divided into three categories. Once the standards are in place and production procedures abide by them, raisins in the third category would be good enough to replace those in the second category and so on," he said.

The board will also have to explore the possibility of producing seeded grapes for raisins across India which come from Andhra Pradesh, apart from reviewing raisin clusters in the country.

IGPB will also ask National Research Centre for Grapes to prepare the draft for standards, apart from taking help from Codex and International Organisation of Vine and Wine or OIV.

According to reports from Khoozestan (Dates province), Current crop of Iranian sayer dates seems to be in good condition, due to the good showers in winter and beginning of spring. Meanwhile in some areas we should be expecting the smaller size of fruits in comparison to previous years. In the next coming months this will be compensated when the tree drops the immature fruits which leads to yield larger fruits in size for the incoming crop.

Quality of the new crop

Current crop of Iranian Sayer dates seems to be in normal condition but the important factors which help Dates to grow fully into the state of complete maturity and absorb the humidity to get fleshy and meaty -in order to prevent them from becoming flaky- are enough amount of sunshine (warmth) and relatively high humidity in the two months of July and August. Providing these conditions are reached, we can definitely expect a good crop.

We estimate the crop of approximately 50,000 tons that will be directly delivered to processing dates plants in the state.

Current Crop (Carry forward)

Considering the current remaining stocks of the Sayer Dates, we predict that the market will run out of the Dates till end of September due to the high demand of the food by Iranian food processing factories, mostly fruit roll manufacturers. As anyone would expect, the new crop will be harvested in September.

Pricing

The price level of the new crop of Dates is based on the minimum guaranteed buying prices announced in September by the governmental authorities. The prices are predicted to be announced with at least 20-30% increase comparing to the last year’s announced prices (due to inflation rate of internal inflation rate) but due to the decrease of Rials exchange rate against foreign currency (US Dollar for instance) there will be no big difference between this year’s price in compare with last year’s announced prices and as result the product prices will stay at the same level.

Current Crop (Carry forward)

Considering the current remaining stocks of the Sayer Dates, we predict that the market will run out of the Dates till end of September due to the high demand of the food by Iranian food processing factories, mostly fruit roll manufacturers. As anyone would expect, the new crop will be harvested in September.

Pricing

The price level of the new crop of Dates is based on the minimum guaranteed buying prices announced in September by the governmental authorities. The prices are predicted to be announced with at least 20-30% increase comparing to the last year’s announced prices (due to inflation rate of internal inflation rate) but due to the decrease of Rials exchange rate against foreign currency (US Dollar for instance) there will be no big difference between this year’s price in compare with last year’s announced prices and as result the product prices will stay at the same level.